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- Local government partnerships to deliver £5bn efficiency drive
Local government partnerships to deliver £5bn efficiency drive
| Published | 15 January 2008 |
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Local Government Minister John Healey today announced £185m support for councils to help them unlock £4.9bn in efficiency savings, improve services and meet the rising expectations of their local communities.
Ministers are also considering a package of measures to improve local accountability to taxpayers on efficiency. This could include a requirement for councils to show on council tax and business rate bills how they have performed on delivering more efficient services and savings over the past year.
The £185m will fund Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) who will support councils to deliver better services and make 3 per cent efficiency savings over the next three years.
This forms part of the funding initially set out in the Comprehensive Spending Review delivering an increase in core grant for every council in the country for each of the next three years.
RIEPs are local government-led partnerships which work to support better, more efficient local services. They have been invited to draw up strategies to show how they will support local authorities over the next three years.
The regional strategies will help councils meet three per cent efficiency savings each year, and their key priority targets set out in Local Area Agreements. They will also help councils improve value for money, increase local economic growth, and more effectively involve local communities in decision-making.
Councils can improve efficiency and save money by:
- Re-designing services
- Sharing back-office functions
- Streamlining tendering processes to encourage more competitive bids
- Sharing legal advice
Local Government Minister John Healey said:
"Council tax payers and businesses rightly expect ever improving services and better value for money. They should be entitled to know how their council is performing on efficiency when they receive their bills on their doormat.
"Every council is receiving increases in core grant funding every year for the next three, whilst services and efficiency have improved dramatically. But more can be done and the tighter financial climate that both central and local government face means efficiency is more important than ever.
"Today's announcement will give councils the support they need to drive up standards in local services and make annual 3 per cent savings that could be used to help keep council tax down."
Local services have continued to improve in recent years: last year, 79 per cent of all councils received either a good or excellent rating in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment, up from 66 per cent in 2006, and just a half in 2001.
The funding announced today will support innovative work between regional organisations and local authorities to ensure high quality services are delivered in a cost-effective and efficient way.
It forms part of the National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy published before Christmas: a detailed prospectus on the support available to local government will be published in March along with regional funding allocations.
Notes to editors
1. Each region will now produce a regional strategy. Allocations to each RIEP will be announced in March.
2. The National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy is available here: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/efficiency.
3. Local Authority Examples of potential efficiency savings and potential reductions in council tax.
Case Studies
East Midlands
The East Midlands Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership has developed LawShare, a partnership of 19 local authorities with the police and fire services and commercial legal firms, to share legal services. A cost benefit analysis published found that £3m has already been saved since the contract was signed, with £5m savings anticipated over the 5-year duration of the agreement.
South East
The Waste Information Network website was developed for use by local authorities in the South East region, and provides information on all aspects of waste management. It was shortlisted as one of 81 finalists for the 2007 e-Government National Awards.
Hampshire County Council has pioneered a new approach to procuring and managing construction work. The South East Major Framework is about streamlining procurement processes and delivering improved performance and efficiencies. The Framework has recently been short listed for the Guardian Public Service Awards. This has realised savings of £3.75m to date.
Support across the regions
Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber and East Midlands have come together to develop Docking Station, a collection of standard documents to make tendering and contracting quicker and fairer for buyers and suppliers to councils in the regions. It has proved particularly useful to district councils, which have in the past struggled to meet the commitments of the e-tendering process.
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